Star Wars Episode 1 : Racer by LucasArts.
Star Wars
Episode 1 : The Adventure - Preview comming soon.
Apparently one of the most exciting scenes in the upcoming movie is the
pod race across the desert and canyons of Tatooine. Well now you don't have to just watch,
they've made a game of it, and it looks amazing!
For years the
Galactic Podracing Circuit has been one of the most exciting sports to watch, thrilling
the citizens of the Outer Rim Territories. The one racer that stands out of the elite and
awful, is not our hero Anakin but someone or something called Sebulba, the champion racer.
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The actual game
is about speed, reactions and brain blowing excitment. This is no revamped wipeout, oh no
podracers for a start are very different vehicles, if you can even call them that. They
are simpley a tiny hoverpod strapped to a pair of emormous engines, capable of reaching
the speed of sound - these things will do a 20-30 mile track in less than two minutes!
The biggest hurdle
the design team faced, (those who brought us X-Wing, Jedi Knights and Shadows Of The
Empire) was getting accurate physics of the three peice vehicles. They had to make it look
realistic as the pods are whipped around corners, swing up and down wildly through
stomach-churning drops and daring jumps. The complexity of the game should challenge even
the most experienced gamers - especially if they opt for the added difficalty of
controlling each engine with its own joystick! |
| When the tracks for the game were
designed the team focused on taking gamers out of the common, tunnel-vision tracks, into
mammoth size levels with much less restriction. The final look of the tracks is an
organic, natural-looking enviroment that uses visual cues to guide gamers in the right
direction. The actual races
will take place across seven different worlds, with at least three tracks on each world.
The first race takes on Tatooine and actually mirrors the racing sequence in the movie.
Other tracks include an ice planet course, that takes you across glaciers and though
twisting ice tunnels. Also a track across an abandoned gas mine, through a mountain
village, across a swamp and even through the heart of a volcano. Finally one one level
your pod will pass through zero-G tues that will whip your pod off the ground around
ceilings. |
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But it won't all
be pritty scenery, the tracks will include a variety of hazards, including lava tunnels,
buring methane lakes, falling meteors, cyclones and sniping Tusken raiders. Thanks to
amazing manoeuvrability the podracers will be able to tilt vertically through canyons and
other obstacles.
I'm sure you
thinking that it must be dangerous, well don't worry there will be plenty of crashes and
destruction going on, there will be colliding racers, flameouts and many more. But thanks
to the level of technology avalible, unless you completely trash the pod it will be able
to self repair - at the expense of losing some speed. |
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| Or course the best way to progress
in the game will be to use you winnings to purchase upgrades from the shady Watto
character, or if your short of cash you can salvage spares from the junkyard. There are
seven categories to tweak, each with six parts avalible, so there's no shortage of
options. Within the game
there are 20 vehicles in total, only six of these are avalible at the start, but they will
be released as you move on. There will be plenty of variety, from small nimble craft to
giant enigins with a seat and little more!
Should you make it, you'll
eventually met Sebulba, the top ranked champion and character for the movie. If you beat
him you'll be able to play as him in multiplayer games, prehaps sending fear into your
oppontents. Podracer should support up to eight player over LAN or the internet. |
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